Ripples
by lilyellowcrayon
Summary: Things have never been known to run smoothly for Harry Potter, but that didn't mean she would give in to this so called 'destiny' without a fight. Follow female Harry as she sets her own path, and destiny, at Hogwarts.
1. Chapter 1

Title: Ripples

Disclaimer: Nothing you recognise is mine, I'm nowhere near good enough to make up an amazing world like Harry Potter, it all belongs to J.K

Summary: Things have never been known to run smoothly for Harry Potter, but that didn't mean she would give in to this so called 'destiny' without a fight. Follow female Harry as she sets her own path, and destiny, at Hogwarts.

Warnings: Spoilers for the first book.

A/N: This story has only been roughly planned out, so anything can happen to our hero. No pairings has been decided yet, open to votes.

A/N 2: Yes this is my first story but if it sucks let me know. Open to constructive criticism but not flames.

The Beginning

It doesn't take much to change the world, many people have heard of the Butterfly Effect. Most of the time it could be a small insignificant difference, one that doesn't even directly relate to the events that follow, but the ripple that follows will be felt by all.

-HP-

Albus Dumbledore could only frown in disappointment, thankfully it was mostly hid by the new beard he was growing. He ran his fingers through it thoughtfully, maybe he should let it grow some more. A hic-cup bought Albus from his musings.

" Well I'm sure that you're ancestry is very impressive, but I'm afraid that you're not quite what Hogwarts is looking for" He said politely. The women in front of him blinked behind her round glasses before giggling.

" Oh come now, I'm sure we can something think of. Drink?" she grinned, spilling a few drops as she offered her butterbeer to the Headmaster.

" No thank you. I must take my leave, it's a very busy time at the moment, I wish you a good day" He dismissed gently as he stood. It wasn't until he was three steps away that the women said something that caught his attention.

"Thee one with this power to –hic- vanish, _vanquish_, the Dark Lord approaches… born to those who hath thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… hic.. and the Dark Lordy will mark it as it's equal, but hesh.. shesh.. it will hath power the Darkness Lord knows not.. and –hic- either must DIE! At thee hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives.. the one with the POWER! To vanquish the Bad Lord will be born as the seventh month diiieeeeess… HIC"

An arched eyebrow was the only response that Albus could manage for the moment. Giving the now madly grinning, and swaying, women a once over he sighed, _I'm going to regret this._ He plastered a grin to his face,

" You know, I think I was wrong, welcome to Hogwarts Professor Trelawny." Bang. A loud thump as the women's head hit the table was the reply. A snort from the bar caught his attention. _Stuff it Aberforth._

-HP-

"Congratulations, it's a baby girl" The nurse handed the new born baby to the beaming mother. She tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear as the baby swiped at it.

"Our little girl James" She said softly, stroking the forehead of her child.

" I know, Lil, I can't believe it. He's perfect… wait. What!" The man who had previously been staring proudly at their child jumped slightly as he was hit with realisation.

" What's the matter Prongs? I thought Lil already told you that one was enough" A ruggedly handsome man strutted through the door, he smoothed his dark hair as he smirked at the gapping man.

" But, he, wha- they said, huh?"

" I think you broke him" The newest occupant of the room offered, he was slightly taller than the previous man, with grey hairs starting to show.

" Jee Lily, what did you threaten him with this time?"

" I didn't do anything" She huffed, "This idiot doesn't adapt well to new things" She sent a glare at James who was now opening and closing his mouth in an attempt to speak.

" Wow, you'd think nine months would be enough time to adjust to a baby James" The grey man poked with a grin.

" Girl!" Was all James could say as he pointed towards the baby and it's mother.

" Well done Prongs, I though that was something you learnt along time ago, but yes it turns out Lily is in fact, a girl. Ow." He rubbed his arm where Lily had just hit, though he didn't lose his grin.

" Well, Sirius, I would like to think he knew that before he asked me out, but I think he was point more toward our new baby girl" There was only a hint of a smirk on Lily's face as Siruis' jaw dropped.

" Wow, I think you broke him too"

" Well at least one you hasn't completely broken down. Knew I could count on you Remus." Lily said, rolling her eyes at the other two.

" Girl!" Siruis copied James as he pointed at the child. Lily and Remus shared a look before they burst out laughing at their stunned friends.

" Well Harry, lets just hope he handles you're first boyfriend better then this." She cooed to the child.

"Nooooooo."

Just the slightest difference could change everything.

-HP-

**It's quite a short introduction but it'll get more into the story soon.**

**Please review, criticisms are welcome as they'll only help me get better. **

**Okay, it's reposted, with line breaks and spaced. Hope this makes it easier to read.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: Not mine, never has been, never will be even if I win the lottery. That said it applies to all the following chapters

A/N: So would like to apologise for the lack of line breaks in the last chapter, not to sure how to add them but hopefully using -HP- along a line will work fine

Also thanks for the review Kab Sevenn, I see what other authors mean when they say its addictive :) hopefully this is what your looking for, I guess I wasn't the only person that wanted to see more girl Harry fics, I only hope that I meet expectations. Now on with the story!

Halloween

It was a night of celebrating, with young children running from house to house in their customs while the adults stood and talked. The village was alive with excitement as the occupants handed out sweets to the eager children, all except for one house. It was an ordinary cottage, looking no different then the others in the village, but it was strangely quiet for this night, in fact it seems as if no-one even knew that it was there nor noticed the mother and her child looking out at them.

" You'll be able to join that soon, this war will be over and we'll take you out everyday and you'll have more sweets than anyone else because you'll be the prettiest out there." Lily whispered to the attentive child.

"Gah." Young Harry pointed and laughed as a witch, complete with green face paint and warts ran by.

" Honestly, she seems to get most of her bad habits from you James." Lily scolded her husband with a smile on her face.

" Come on let her enjoy herself. We all need to." He said joining her at the window, hugging her from behind and resting his head on her shoulder. Raising a baby was always a difficult, though fulfilling, task, raising a baby during a war was even harder. Finding out that your child was destined to either kill or be killed by one of the worst dark lords the wizarding had ever seen, now that really took its toll.

" I just want her to be able to be normal, to have a happy life. To have a life" She added with a whisper. James kissed her cheek.

" She will, we'll make sure of it"

" I'm scared" Despite her husbands words Lily couldn't shake the feeling of impending doom, it was a feeling that they had learnt should be treated cautiously.

" We'll do everything it takes" And they had, the entire house was one giant booby trap with multiple escape routes. It wasn't that they didn't trust Professor Dumbledore's methods or wisdom, or at least they didn't since the argument about secret keepers, they should have realised that magic had restrictions so choosing someone else under the fidelius charm wouldn't work. No, it was the fact that he couldn't imagine the short-term solutions. He had been looking at the big picture for so long, he was losing sight of how the small details really mattered. But that was where they stepped up, they weren't the head of the infamous Marauders and the smartest witch of their generation for nothing.

" There's nothing more we can do now, I'll clean up while you put Harry to bed, you deserve a rest." With this they turned to do their respective tasks, if they had been watching the window for a few moments more, however, they would have seen a dark figure glide down the now dark and lonely street. It wasn't until the green light shined through the edge of the doors that James noticed something was wrong, they wards should have kept people away, while others should have let them know if anyone had even stepped close to the house. It wasn't until the door was violently blasted backwards that he saw what was wrong.

"Lily its him! He's found us! Take Harry and run!" James yelled as he ran to the broom cupboard in the hallway. He heard a deep chuckle from behind, though this quickly changed to a hiss of pain. James let his own dark grin show as he thought of the vicious Karma ward Lily had set at all of the doors and windows. It was a modified version of the ward that kept out those who meant harm, as they were easy to detect now, and rebound it as physical pain. You don't mess with Potters. James threw open the broom cupboard to find it empty. Damn, apparently you don't mess with dark lords either.

" Going somewhere?" Voldemort had recovered quickly, but that didn't mean James was going to give in easily. He triggered the pre-set transfigurations and heard a lions roar from the front room. While Voldemort was stalled, he checked for apparating and portkeys. As expected, neither were working. Another blast of green light and the roaring was silenced.

" Finite Incantatem!" James shouted jumping up a few steps, he wasn't going to give up easily. Voldemort came into view as the ceiling, which turned out not to be the ceiling at all, turned into paper and water drenched the area. Tiny bolts could be seen as the loose wires they had placed sent shocks through the dark lord who was currently struggling to stand.

"Ascendio**" **Voldemort slowly rose out of the water and shook himself off. "Impressive, I almost forgot how challenging you could be"

" You'll never have our little girl, never! That lying scumbag Peter will get what's coming to him!"

Another deep chuckle came from the dark lord. "Yes, he was most helpful in finding you. Loyalty," He sneered " You're pathetic to put so much trust in one person. He understood that there was only power."

" Yeah? Way I see it, your already on your way to losing, we already heard about the prophesy." James smirked. He had already mastered the art of projecting false confidence during his time at Hogwarts. Now he had to stall long enough to make sure his girls could escape.

" Reducto!" The wall behind James exploded a mere second after he ducked. And Lily said quidditch would never teach him anything.

" Repulso!" He screamed trying to knock Voldemort back into the water. This was wordlessly batted away.

"Duro"

" Protego" Those spells were getting a little too close for James liking. He heard a splash as the now stone coat rack fell into the water.

" Crucio," He jumped up the stairs this time to avoid the dark curse.

" Deprimo!"

" Avada Kadavra" Even as Voldemort was forced back into the sparking water he managed to fire of the deadly curse. James' body slumped to the floor as he couldn't avoid the final curse.

In the nursery Lily knew what the silence meant. She cried for her husband as she attempted to get the emergency portkey working, Peter had really sold them out.

" Expelliarmus**" **She hadn't even heard him destroy the wards in her frantic attempts of escape, now as she her wand flew into the hand of the enemy she could only hold Harry close to her and pray that their efforts would be successful.

" Hand over the child." He offered.

" No, not Harry, please not my baby." She could feel the tears falling down her cheeks.

" Hand her over and you don't have to die"

" _Not Harry,__ please no don't kill her, take me, kill me instead —_"."

" This is your last warning –"

" _Not Harry! Please ... have mercy ... Not Harry! Please — I'll do anything..._"

Unfortunately the dark lord was not known for his compassion nor his patience.

" Avada Kadavra" He cast for the second time that night. Lily Potter fell to the floor, eyes wide

open, still pleading for her daughter's life.

" And you," He turned is wand to the crying infant, " will not live while I survive"

And for the third and final time that night, he cast the killing curse.

" Avada Kadavra!" He yelled. Had he been less confident about facing the infant, he may have noticed the small runes on the walls that had started glowing before he even cast the spell, or the faint blue light that seemed the emit from the small child. As it was, Voldemort was caught of guard as the green light seems to stop for a millisecond, inches away from the baby's forehead. His maniacal evil laugh stopped dead as his own sickly green light rebounded towards him. Had he been more aware he may have been able to doge said green light, as it was, all he could think was _Oh sh-_.

- HP -

Next up Dursleys, meet Harry.

Updates usually wont be this quick, just until it actually gets into the story.

Harry Potter Wiki was used for spell list.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Would like to just thank you for the reviews, always great to read :) I didn't feel like canon did much justice to the pair that faced Voldemort three times so I'm glad you liked it.

Also thanks for the advice Danni, it's a great help to me.

Now onto the story.

-HP—

**This is my life**

It was at an early age that Harriett Rosalie Potter learnt that she was different. Not for the fact that she was raised by her aunt and uncle, or that said aunt and uncle showed no intention of stopping their son from bullying her. It was more than that, much more, and much worse.

When Harriett was four she had her first 'incident'. By then her Aunt and Uncle had already started to blame everything that went wrong on her, as their perfect Dudders could do no wrong.

As it was, when Dudley had accidentally broke his new remote control car by driving it off of the desk, she was absolutely terrified of it being found out, and if the sniffling Dudley decided to burst out wailing then that's exactly what would have happened. So with the reasoning that only a small child can have, she willed the car to simply be fixed, she didn't understand why something shouldn't be able to fix itself if you want it enough, so that's exactly what happened. She giggled at the stunned expression Dudley was now sporting, then there was shock, then realization. He grinned as he grasped the idea he could still play with his new toy, and in a shocking display of gratitude, offered the controller to Harriett to take turns. It only took a few seconds to shake off the shock of the selfless action of the usually extremely selfish boy and started to bond with her cousin for the first time, finally finding common ground.

Had Dudley not share the _wonderful_ news with his parents that night they may have had the chance to carry on playing together, perhaps even become friends. Unfortunately for Harry, Dudley had no concept of keeping secrets from his parents at this time, nor any idea of the tension that resided in the household.

Despite Vernon turning an interesting shade of purple, for the first time of many, and Petunia dropping her wine glass on the floor, it didn't take long for them to get their thoughts together and their combined brain power (which was very limited) decided that this was a problem that needed fixing before it could infect their dear son.

Their first course of action was to lecture Dudley on why he couldn't play with his cousin any more and why this kind of behavior was wrong. The second thing was to make Harriett admit that she had been bad and unnatural.

Unfortunately for the Durselys, even at a young age Harriett was both very resilient and had a strong sense of survival. Unlike Dudley, she had picked up on her relative's dislike of strange things and refused to make the connection between the events, denying all involvement.

This resulted in her being sent to the cupboard under the stairs until she admitted to what she did. It was the start of the ever-present and stubborn war of the wills between herself and Vernon, inadvertently setting off far more 'incidents' then would have happened, including quick re-growing hair, shrinking jumpers, and at one point, self frying bacon. She was slightly disappointed that the last event hadn't happened again.

Despite this, it wasn't until she was nine that she finally had to give into the truth, even her finely tuned sense of denial couldn't carry on.

The day had started normally enough, dressing in Dudley's old clothes, which were _far_ too big for her, despite her constant comments to him to slim down. She was let out of the cupboard, punishment for yet another shouting matching against her uncle, to cook breakfast, where her uncle insulted her tousled, black hair 'looks like a bloody bird's nest'. Dudley had whined about his homework while stuffing his mouth with bacon and Petunia fussed about her dear overworked Dudders. At school she had annoyed her teachers by arguing with Dudley, and then still managed to finish her work with high marks. She had been looking forward to see what colours she could get her uncle to change with that news, so far she had only achieved shades of red, purple and green. The last had been by accident of course.

It was at lunch that this normality finally changed. She had been by herself yet again, thanks to the rumours that Dudley had spread about her, and that she may have played on after getting tires of the other students, resting against the huge oak tree in the corner of the playground.

This peace was ruined when Dudley and his cronies strutted over for their exciting game of 'insulting the freak'. She couldn't help but think they needed to get better hobbies, really.

" Hey freak I bet you had to pay loads to copy someone's work, there's no way someone like you could actually get anything right." The gang saw the need to chuckle at Gordon's childish insult.

" You mean a Dursely? I thought Dursleys could do no wrong." She feigned ignorance.

" You're not a Dursely! You're a Potter! Potter! Potter! Potter!" Dudley yelled going red in the face, desperate to deny all connections to her. He made up for his intelligence with repetition.

" Don't worry Duds, we feel sorry for you being related to such a thing." Piers said, a smirk on his face. It wasn't difficult to see his lack of sincerity, Piers had only ever looked out for himself after all.

" Better than being related to you, I wouldn't be able to stand looking at your ugly face all the time." She retorted.

" I'm not ugly!" Was the clever retort.

" Sure you are Rat Face." She smirked at her favorite nickname. She felt it was far more creative, and accurate, than their ones.

" Take that back you freak. You're nothing compared to us." He scowled.

" Make me!" This probably wasn't her best reply. It took Harriett a moment to realize that she was sprawled on the floor with a throbbing pain in her jaw.

She raised her hand to her jaw in shock, wincing as she felt the start of a bruise. The three boys also looked shocked, and slightly scared, of what had occurred. They may have been enemies, but they were all young and, relatively, sheltered children.

Piers quickly attempted composed himself to save face.

" N-not so tough now are you, f-freak." His voice shook as he attempted to stand up straight.

" You can't do that." Gordon whispered. His face had lost colour and he was nervously eyeing the rest of the playground. Similarly Dudley was completely frozen, his eyes wide and his mouth forming a small 'o'.

Piers, however, seemed to only draw confidence from their uncertainty and straightened up further. Looking behind him he saw that no-one had noticed the events.

" I was right you're nothing." He laughed at Harriett. She quickly scrambled to her feet and backed up as Piers stepped forward to invade her personal space. She quickly looked between Dudley and Gordon for help.

With a look of guilt Gordon sidestepped to stand behind Piers, easily being drawn to the stronger side.

" Dudley." She whispered. They may not have always seen eye to eye but he was family, that counted for something, didn't it? Except, he did nothing as Piers took another step forward, his smirking face inches away from her own, her eyes still locked onto Dudley's.

" Do you really think he'll help _you_?" Piers spat, taking the bullying further. Dudley stood still, his expression full of confusion. Piers' grin got wider, enjoying having this new power he had over her and Harriett tensed slightly as she realized that Pier's wasn't going to go back to their innocent arguments.

" No defense, he doesn't care about you, no-one does." Her laughed again and shoved her backwards.

Pier's had hit a nerve with his comment, and Harriett thought that she should probably be more upset than she was, but as she felt the scratches on her back as she hit the tree all she felt at that moment was anger.

Her anger was directed at the unfairness of the attack and at the other people that did nothing to help her, the playground was hardly empty so it was doubtful that no-one had seen the struggle. But mostly she was angry with herself for being scared of _Piers Polkiss_, the same boy that she had been enemies with since he threw water on her picture in nursery and the same boy that had cried when he cut his knees last week.

She didn't have to wait around for a knight in shining armor because Piers had been wrong about one part. She did have a defense.

Her expression molded into a glare as Piers carried on laughing, green eyes full of rage. Taking no notice of her expression Piers carried on superiorly.

" This is how things are, this is your place." He told her. He pulled his fist back again to finalize his point.

This time, however, it seemed like time slowed down as she allowed her rage to overtake her. Charging forward with a frustrated growl, she threw her fist at Piers before he could do so to her. This time it was Pier's who ended up on the ground. There was another stunned silence, though Harriett recovered far quicker than Piers and the glare was back on her face in seconds.

" I don't need anyone else." She sneered at him. Piers quickly jumped back up, stuck between disbelief and anger that she had hit him back.

" What? Do you really think you can get away with that?" Piers growled at her. Also fueled by anger he towered over her smaller frame and lunged forward to get his revenge.

Ducking to soften landing, it took Harriett a moment to realize that she was still standing. Looking up to she saw an even more shocking sight. A very pale-faced Piers was pulled backwards and thrown to the ground by Dudley.

" You don't hit girls." He growled out in an unexpected defence.

" She doesn't count, she's hardly a girl!" He tried to defend. " You know what? You both freaks! No-ones gonna believe you when I tell them what the two of you did to me. You'll be in so much trouble."

_Just shut up already! _Harriett thought. Tired and frustrated, she wanted this to be over. She felt a strange pressure build in her chest as she this repeated in her mind.

"I'm gonna-"

_Pop._ Then there was silence. Harriett, Dudley and Gordon stood still, wondering where the fourth member of the group had gone.

" Well, I'm gonna.. go." Gordon Sprinted away, quicker than he had ever moved before.

" Hey isn't that the Polkiss kid up there?"

" What's he doing? What an idiot." They heard the shouts from the rest of the playground.

With a slight bit of trepidation, Harriett and Dudley turned to look back at the school. Sure enough, there on the roof of the school was Piers Polkiss, lying on his front and madly looking like he feared for his life.

The two turned back to stare at each other, it was a few minutes before Dudley broke the staring contest.

" I won't tell if you won't." It was the best response Harriett could have ever had hoped for. It became their secret, Dudley now being old enough to realize that just maybe he shouldn't tell his parents this one thing.

When Piers made all of his wild claims that Harriett had thrown him on the roof as the Headmaster dragged him down by his ear, Dudley had merely given him a bored look and stated that it wasn't possible. Harriett couldn't wipe the grin off of her face all day, even the suspicious looks Vernon threw her couldn't bring her mood down. She and Dudley had finally reached an understanding and it was the start of a beautiful friend/enemy-ship between the two of them. _Friendemiship.. Frienemiship? Whatever._

-HP-

A few days after what was now dubbed _The Jump_ Harriett had decided she needed to take control of her life and sort things out. Or in other word, learn to run like hell. She had seen the looks Piers had been sending her way in school, and it definitely wasn't the 'let's forget about it and go bake cookies' look she had dubiously been hoping for.

That was why she found herself using the school running track at least twice a week after school with Dudley. It had been a challenge to convince the pudgy boy to do anything to do with exercise, but a deal for attempting to learn how to fix his things on command had warmed him to the idea.

The first part had been easier to achieve, and that was saying a lot, but it had most definitely been useful. It was only two weeks into it that she needed to out-run Piers. He was still been faster than her for the moment, but it gave her enough time to hide. As for the other part of the deal, well, that was less successful.

Currently the two were sitting on the grass as they took a break from running. They were attempting to brainstorm ideas on how to get this ability under control as so far none of her attempts had worked.

" What if you get angry? Rrrrgg!" Dudley yelled, getting in her face. Harriett simply rolled her eyes and shoved him away from her. He was trying but that didn't necessarily mean that he was helping.

" I don't think it works like that, I wasn't angry the first time, _it_, happened." She peered around cautiously to check their surroundings. She may have come to terms with her talent but she didn't want anyone finding out. She'd heard about those kind of horror movies with mad scientist, she would be avoid those situations, thank you very much.

" And Mrs. Morris definitely would have something coming to her if it worked that way." She added irritably. After some subtle, or rather blatant, hints from Polkiss, said teacher had decided that Harriett must be cheating on her work and was now determined to catch her in the act.

" I don't know, she gives the rest of us a laugh. She the worst spy ever but it's so good! " Dudley sniggered. They could grow as much as they liked but some things would never change between them.

" Yeah, it was brilliant when she told you not to ask infants to draw you pictures for you, _Dud._" She smiled sweetly.

" Shut up, _Harry._" He retorted with the new nickname she had gained. Vernon had taken a particular liking to it when he had found out, referring to her as 'boy'.

" You girl." She stuck her tongue out.

" You boy." Dudley did the same. She giggled slightly, pleased that the insults no longer held any menace behind them.

" Arrrg?" He tried again to get a reaction from her, his hands were held out like claws. Her giggles turned into full blown laughter.

" It's weird, all of the things do seem related to my emotions put I don't see how." She pointed out once she had calmed down.

" Well it's simple then, all you need to do is control your emotions and you can control the world!" He joked. Unfortunately he saw Harriett's eyes light up.

" Arg no I was kidding, that's like a bad Disney plot. You can't just control your emotions like that, it's impossible." He groaned.

" Say's who."

" You! Every time you have a fight with dad!"

" I don't say that."

" No but if you have any you would get in so much trouble with him all the time." He had a point there.

" No I just don't want to give him any power over me, he'd think he could control me." She got an unbelieving stare in return. She'd have to work on her excuses.

" Come on it might work. Ms. Hardins mention that meditation thing that people do, even if it doesn't work there no harm in it." Dudley could admit that he wasn't the sharpest crayon in the box but even he could see the flaws in the plan.

" So what, you're just going to be able to turn your emotions on and off whenever you feel like it? Control what you feel completely?" He had started to become close to his cousin, he didn't like the idea that she would be able to just shut herself off like that.

" Ye-,er no, I mean it's not going to be like that." At Dudley's unbelieving expression she continued. " I just want to be able to control this power that I have, not just have weird things happen! I want to be kinda normal."

Dudley could understand this much, he had seen, and even been the cause, of a lot of the teasing and bullying that happened to her. He resigned himself to being supportive.

" Just don't shut me out, k?"

" I won't if you don't" Was all she could say to him. Their relationship may have improve dramatically, with Dudley now efficiently stopping people from insult her in his presence, but she still held back slightly. She couldn't help but feel the need to protect herself should she find herself alone again. There were some walls she just wasn't willing to take down, not after the effort it took to put them up.

-HP-

" Up! Get up!" A bang could be heard from under the stairs as the youngest occupant of the house was rudely awakened. " You need to cook breakfast today."

A young girl stumbled out of the small entrance to the cupboard, her long black hair scruffed on one side and her eyes barely open.

" Hurry up Harry, I wanna open my presents!" Dudley yelled as he ran past her, almost knocking her over. The girl groaned as she became more aware.

" Hurry up, this breakfast won't cook itself!" Harry, as she had now been permanently named, couldn't help but smirk as she thought of the months that her Aunt was terrified to say those words. Entering the kitchen Harry saw Dudley bouncing on his seat rather impatiently.

" Happy Birthday Duds." She smiled to him, taking over frying the onions and mushrooms from her aunt.

" Thanks, now go get Dad will you?" He grinned back.

" Dudley, mind your manners. Harry, don't forget to take the bacon out in five minutes." She instructed as she frantically wiped what could be seen of the kitchen table. Harry hid her amusement, having seen her do this every year, and happily carried on with her chores.

" Here's to the birthday boy." Vernon announced as he entered the kitchen, patting his son on the back. He chuckled and put his hand on his wife's shoulder. " Calm down love, today will be perfect like always."

He then joined Dudley at the table, ignoring Harry's presence. Unlike Dudley, and eventually Aunt Petunia, Vernon had yet to accept her presence in their family. Their constant battle was still on going, although they had reached an agreement to tolerate the others presence during family times. Mainly for fear of incurring Aunt Petunia's wrath.

Her sanity had been near snapping when their battles had reached the stage that they had foolishly resorted to throwing food at each while shouting. Needless to say they hadn't made that mistake again.

" Thirty-five, thirty-six. I've got thirty six presents!" Dudley paused. Vernon and Aunt Petunia held their breath as they waited for a possible explosion. Dudley looked upwards while he though something over. " That's eleven more than Harry got!" He grinned.

" Enough of that, your presents cost around about the same" Was the reply from Aunt Petunia, who let out a sigh of relief. While not strictly true, Harry was thankful for her support and merely rolled her eyes at Dudley's antics. As long as he had it better than Harry he was happy, the spoilt brat.

" Yes but good maths Dudley, here I though that you got stuck when you ran out of fingers." She teased back.

" Harry, enough." Aunt Petunia warned, cutting off the bickering before it got worse.

" Aw, I know your clever really Dud." Harry smiled sweetly.

" Give it up, mum wouldn't let you stay at home even if I begged her. Now presents!" With that, Dudley started digging into his stack of gifts. He was easily distracted from any problems with the promise of new toys.

The rest of the morning was relatively peaceful, with the two children watching some of the new videos that Dudley had received as they waited for their mutual friends to turn up. Even the trip to the zoo had been relatively peaceful, despite Harry's attempt to make a joke about the motorcycle that cut in front of them. Apparently Vernon didn't find the though of himself in a mid-life crisis very funny but at least Jeremy and Dennis had.

It was when they reached the reptile house that the trip really got exciting.

" Make it move." Dudley ordered his father, knocking on the glass of the black Indian constrictor.

" Oi, wake up." Vernon tried. " Ruddy things just going to sleep all day, I'm sure there's more interesting one's to look at tyke."

Harry stayed looking at the sleeping snake as Dudley and Vernon moved onto the next containment.

" Sorry bout that, they don't really think about others some times." She wasn't sure why she felt the need to apologize to the snake, it just felt like the polite thing to do. She wasn't expecting a response so she was shocked when it looked up at her and winked.

She grabbed Dudley's arm and pulled him back to her tank as she continued to stare at the snake in shock.

" Ow what?"

" I think that snake just understood me, it winked!" She whispered.

" Hey cool, hey snake! Do it- ow" Harry hit Dudley's arm.

" Quiet! What did I tell you about being discrete?" He though for a moment.

" That cheese is a type of meat?" She let out a snigger at that.

" No, well yeah I did. It's a tasty yellow beef." She added with a grin.

" I milk it with my teat." Dudley filled.

" But I try to be discrete! Discrete" They both sang the last part. Hearing a sigh from their right they turned to see Vernon walk off shaking his head, they were also getting a few strange looks from the fellow zoo goers.

" Ha, works as a perfect distraction." Dudley grinned.

" Yeah like you actually thought of that." Harry retorted.

" Shut up, it's about opportunities and all that stuff Dad goes on about."

" Ooo long word, I'm impressed."

" Shut it."

" Why should I?"

" Cause the snake's looking at your weird." She turned back to the snake to see that it was in fact giving her a look that was as close to bewilderment that a snake could get. She could practically hear the worry for their sanity.

" Ha yeah, that was to, uh, be discrete and all." She explained to the snake, feeling stupid as soon as the words were out. She wasn't entirely sure why she felt the need to explain herself. The snake shook his head in a similar fashion to Vernon.

" Holy cow! You just hissed! And it did something! Did you tell it to?" Dudley whispered.

" Er yeah, yeah I did." She lied. This was an epic moment, her powers were finally doing something, she had to make it look good. She straighten her back and smiled at the snake. " Hey snake… so how are you?" She asked awkwardly, _ugh so much for memorable moment_. The snake laid it's head back on the floor, his eyes asking 'really, that's the best you've got?'.

" Hey! I don't go round talking to snakes often, I don't know what you like to talk about. Or if your even speak English, I mean snake-english, do you?" She received a nod. "Well that's good I suppose." She was still receiving an unimpressed look.

" Fine, you chatted to many other people today friendly guy?" A shake of the head. " So just me, _can_ you talk to other people?" The snake paused before shaking his head. An uncertain no? She'd think on that one later. " Do you like cheese?" It slipped out before she could think over what to say next. The snake's gaze clearly questioning her sanity. " That's it no more Buffy for me, but it is pretty awesome, you should watch it some time if you get a chance. What am I saying, you're still a snake."

" What's going on? It doesn't look like it likes you." She blushed at Dudley's input as she realized that she had been rambling. Thankfully the snake looked more amused than hateful. She took a moment to collect herself. _Come on, really? This is just another animal, pull yourself together and act like you would to anyone else idiot!_

" Do you mind being in captivity?" She asked cautiously, maybe not quite anyone else then it was something she felt she needed the answer to. Thankfully the snake shook it's head and she let out a sigh of relief, though it still looked slightly unimpressed at her.

" Don't worry about him, he just likes to be grumpy." She heard a different hiss from below her. Looking down she saw a small garden snake on the floor.

" Hey, where'd you come from?" She asked, bending down to the snakes level.

" Section b-5." Was the reply.

" Um, right. Look I know I'm probably supposed to hand you in or something but do you want to stick with me? This is kind of cool."

" What will you feed me? I'll have you know that I like to have sultanas every day."

" They give you that here?"

" No it's what you'll be giving me." Was the haughty reply.

" Already it's a deal then." Harry laughed as she stuck her arm out. It tingled slightly as her new snake slithered up her arm.

" That was awesome." Dudley whispered.

" Dudley, Harry come on were moving on." Aunt Petunia called. A polite get away from grumpy. Brilliant.

" Coming!" Dudley yelled back. "Dunno if you can hear me snake, but it's was good meeting you."

" Yeah me too, have a fun day." Harry cringed slightly as she added the last part.

" Goodbye young ones, come back soon won't you, not all idiots are as fun to watch." Harry heard from behind her as they walked away.

" What, you can talk! You sneaky little-"

" Boy, what are you staring at? You're holding us up." Harry could only glare at the snake as Vernon dragged her away. It hissed back at her in what she presumed was laughter.

- HP -

For the next week all Jeremy and Dennis would talk about was the weird acting snake that they'd seen as they left the reptile house.

Fortunately that was all they had seen, although somehow someone had manage to spread some rumours that Harry was a snake charmer, which she thought was disturbingly close. But then again, someone had also spread a rumour that it had reacted because Dudley was a secret assassin employed by the snake, which she though was just plain disturbing. She should really learn not to show her powers in public.

Unfortunately, the outlandish rumours only grew during the week as Harry turned up with a variety of paper cuts, Dudley refused to stop grinning, and Mr. Dursely had started acting peculiarly stressed.

Of course, the actual chain of events was far stranger than the stories made up by their classmates.

It was exactly one week before Harry's birthday that it all started. And by exactly, meaning down to the very minute that she was born, not that she had spent the time looking or anything. And it had started with just one simple letter.

It was on this morning that Harry found herself weeding the garden for extra pocket money.

She was passing the time by attempting to find her new friend a name, refusing to call her 'snake' infinitely.

" How about Ekans?" Harry suggested.

" No thanks, far to popular name, I've heard it a lot before." 'Snake' reply as she sifted through the flowerbed.

" Right. What about Medusas, then?" Harry asked.

" No thanks, I'm high maintenance, not a spoilt brat." Was 'snake's reply.

" Wait what? Never mind." She said, starting to get used to the snakes strange statements. " Sally, then?"

" No."

" Silvia."

" No."

" Sinstra."

" Veto"

" You want to be called Veto?"

" No it means I _really_ reject your idea."

" That's American, how do you even know about that?"

" _Veto_."

" I hav-"

" Veto."

" _Fine_. Alice?"

" Finally a good suggestion. Why would a want a name beginning with 's'?" Harriett sighed in defeat. She felt a sharp sting on the back of her head.

" Ow, we agreed on a name, no need to attack me." Harry grumbled.

" As much as I would like to, I'm fairly comfy here." Alice hissed from within the flowers. Harry looked around for the source of her attacker. Finding nothing she stood up to search better.

" Harry what's going on?" She heard her Aunt call from the kitchen.

" Nothing!" Was the quick reply. " I don't suppose you believe in ghosts?"

" Don't be silly." Was all her Aunt had to say on the matter. Harry continued spinning in circles in hopes to see her mystery attacker.

She heard the sharp gasp beside her and fell over as she finished her spin to face her aunt. Aunt Petunia had turned a sickly white and was staring at a point on the ground. She quickly snatched up the object.

" Hey is that a letter? Oo it's addressed to me, let me read it." Her aunt snatched it away from her attempts to retrieve the letter.

" It's nothing important, you're going to Smeltings and that's final." Aunt Petunia snapped.

" So it's a school invite? That sends letters with owls." Suddenly an idea came to her, easily piecing together the piece of the puzzle.

" It's a school for – _different_ people?" Again her aunt gasped.

" You don't speak of this and you make sure your Uncle doesn't know a thing. Understand!" She snapped.

" Stay quiet." She heard the hiss from behind her, before she felt Alice slide up the back of her shirt and poke her head out at the collar. " Nothing will come from this."

Harry nodded her head, slightly annoyed at being restrained. Her Aunt eyed her carefully before spinning on her heel and storming back to the kitchen, tearing up the letter on the way.

" Great now that's gone, thanks a lot. That's the last time I listen to you." Harry whined.

" Think, you couldn't get anything from her then, you need a new tactic to get the information from her." Alice advised.

" No, I need to go demand it now." Harry said, standing as she revolved to do just that.

" Wait! Just go to the bin and find the ripped letter, that way you'll have evidence when you confront her."

" As weird as it is that you want to play detectives, how do you suggest I get my Aunt out of the kitchen?"

" Leave that to me." Alice hissed smugly. Harry sat back down as she watched Alice slither into the house, slightly annoyed that she was taking so much consideration into Alice's ideas.

_Crash._ Harry's head shot back up, there was a few seconds of silence before she heard a small scream from her Aunt. Taking this as her queue she ran into the house

Normally she would feel slightly guilty for being the cause of one of her Aunts vases smashing, and this wasn't the first time her strangeness had been the cause of this, but today she had her mind on one thing. That letter.

After a quick scan of the hallway to confirm that it was empty, Harry ran back to the bin and tipped it over. It wasn't like her Aunt wasn't going to know about his, anyways.

" Gotcha." She whispered as she found the four pieces of the envelope. As carefully as she could, she peeled the contents out of the ripped envelope and placed what looked to be parchment on the floor. Spreading them out and placing odd bits of rubbish on the corners, she finally took a good look at the item in front of her.

" Harry, you won't believe what your snake did." Dudley whispered excitedly as he ran into the kitchen and spotted her. " Wait, what's-"

" Supreme Mugwump… International confed. Of wizards… Miss Potter… pleased to inform you that you have been accepted into Hogwarts School of, of Witchcraft and Wizardry." Harry whispered gently."

" Wow, what's it all mean?" Dudley asked.

" It means my subscription to insanity monthly's finally arrived. I don't bloody know!" Harry retorted sarcastically.

" Don't be a git, Harry. Await your owl by 31st July. History of Magic. Dark Forces. Pets and broomsticks. Wow, just wow." Dudley stated, reading over her shoulder.

" What on earth are you two doing!" They heard the shriek from behind them. They span around to see Aunt Petunia staring at them in horror, though Harry was unsure weather it was due to the letter or unsightly mess she had made on the floor.

" You, you." Her Aunt stuttered.

" I can explain!" Harry exclaimed. " Wait, I mean you need to explain! The floors not important right now." At least she hoped it wasn't. " What's this about? School of _Witchcraft and Wizardry_?"

" So it's alright when you ask about it." Dudley muttered. Harry ignored him.

" It's nothing, we promised that we would stamp this nonsense out of you when we took you in. I won't have you around any of this freakishness that got you're the rest of my family killed." Aunt Petunia snapped.

" Firstly it's not _nothing_, it's a freaking magical world. Whole world! It said something about international! And secondly it's not freakish and it's not dangerous like your making out. I've been practising _magic_ already!" Harry almost yelled.

" You know nothing! It's the same thing your mother thought and it ended up getting her blown up!"

" You said they died in a car crash!" Harry shouted.

" Of course we did, we couldn't exactly tell you then truth, you would have done something stupid like tell someone." Her Aunt replied harshly.

"Well what did happen!" Aunt Petunia faltered at this.

" I'm not sure about this. We should continue this when your Uncle's home."

" No, I want answers, now." Harry growled. " You've kept this from me my whole life, had me worrying over this _thing_ I have no control over, and trust me I've tried. I deserve the truth. Please."

" You've got to understand." Her Aunt pleaded. " It's not like fairytales, no matter how much it may appear or how exciting it may seem. This stuff is dangerous! "

Seeing that she was getting no response she sighed in defeat.

" Alright sit down Harry, you too Dudley." She said dejectedly. Dudley look caught between embarrassment for still being there and curiousness. Deciding on curiosity he took the seat in front of him, while Harry sat opposite him and Aunt Petunia between the two of them.

" Honestly, I don't know what happened Harry. Let me explain." She cut Harry of before she could argue. " You're parents were wizard and witch, Harry. I know this much. I also know that there is a whole other world out there for you magic users, you were right. But as any world goes, there were problems despite what they attempted to make you believe."

" You see, they have their own form of racism there, it had your mother crying on many occasions because she was targeted for being born to normal people, _muggles_ were called, as if they couldn't thing of anything better to call us then to make us sound like common thieves. That's how they see us you know, primitive."

" I don't believe you." Harry interrupted, annoyed at the damper on this knew knowledge. " I don't believe that there whole world just prosecutes people over things they have no control over."

" Like skin colour or gender you mean?" Her Aunt questioned. " You're a smart girl, Harry, you know that the world isn't perfect. Again, you're right, though, not everyone is like that, but it was enough for a terrorist group to almost succeed in taking over the wizarding world to exterminate all normal people and muggle-born. They're the ones that killed your grandparents, and they killed your parents as well. I'm sorry, but you need to understand."

" They killed my grandparents and aunt and uncle?" Dudley questioned sadly.

" I'm sorry both of you, I wouldn't tell you this but I don't want you wandering of into that world and getting yourself killed too."

" So you think I am going into this world, then?" Harry asked. Her aunt sighed before replying.

" I don't think we can stop you, if it's what you want. But you must promise to be careful and watch out for these things. I'll admit, I'm not fond of these things but I'll try my best to be supportive."

" Thank you." Harry whispered. " That's more than I ever expected. I know you don't like, my powers but I didn't realise where it came from. I'll try to keep them to myself, oh, and I promise not to use it to hurt people either, I won't be like them."

" Thank you as well, Harriett, though as much as I would like to claim such an acceptable reason, I'm afraid that originally my feelings had started from jealousy from your mother, always bringing back toads and turning teacups into mice, so unhygienic." She complained and Harry couldn't help but smile.

" But you're telling your uncle, his reaction I'm afraid does come just from not liking anything different. Once you break the news to him, I'll keep him under control, though if you dare to throw food." She let her treat trail off and Harry gulped at the thought of what she would do to them. They would never find the bodies.

"Dudley, I'd like you to answer me honestly now, I'm serious."

" It wasn't me." His mum looked unimpressed at the quick reply. " I mean, yes?"

" Do you- I mean have you ever, well." She fumbled awkwardly over her words, while Dudley just looked confused. " _It_, do you have _it._"

" Mum, I love you but you're gonna have to do better than that."

" Enough of your cheek, young man. Magic, I mean." She whispered the words that she had been trying to avoid. Dudley snorted.

" No, I've never done anything _magical_. And you don't to worry about me being jealous either, I've come to realise just how useful controlling her can be." Harry snorted at this. " And I'm fairly sure it's not catchable either, so you can stop treating it like a disease, it's not going to get worse the more times you say it."

" Contagious, Dud. The words contagious " Harry smiled gratefully at him. She knew his mini-rant was his way of supporting her.

- HP -

Ah finally up. I only hope it was worth the wait, it ended up slightly longer than I meant to once I decided against the first stopping point. Next up will be the trip to Diagon Alley.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Hey, me again. Well to answer some questions, Alice will be important to Harry but most definitely won't be magical, that would make things to easy. Also I'm happy to see Harry with either as long as it's done well (which will be a challenge when I get to it), it's too early for me to start pairings yet, there might be a few small crushes though, but anyone could become a love interest.

AN2: I've also only just realised I uploaded the wrong version of chapter 3 :o that corrected version is now up , thankfully it was only a few mistakes in there so don't feel like you'll need to re-read it

Now hope you enjoy.

- HP -

Of Letters and First Meetings

" What in blazes? No, no, no, NO!"

" I guess Harry finally told Dad then." Dudley said, only glancing away from the TV to see his mum's reaction. She was staring at the door as if it would help her hear what was going on.

" _And finally, the most important rule of all. No matter how much they beg, no matter how much they cry, never feed them after midnight."_

" Turn the telly down Dudley." Aunt Petunia told him, leaning slight closer to the door.

" I thought we were supposed to stay out of this." Dudley grinned. Harry had specifically stated that since this was her job, she wanted to do this her way with out any interference.

" My Dudley! My poor son!" There heard yelled from upstairs. Dudley hurried to put the film on mute. It seemed like Harry decided to take the chance to have fun with this.

" You can't do this to my family, we promised to stamp-"

" –out this nonsense when you took me in. Yes, I know, I've heard it all from Aunt Petunia." Harry interrupted shortly.

" Oh good you haven't infected my whole family, then."

" Oi." Dudley muttered.

" No, just corrupted your precious son and I'm thinking of asking Aunt Petunia to join the parents board to help out with the school."

Aunt Petunia sighed. She supposed this is what she got when not only agreed, but suggested, to leave those two alone together.

" Never! Do you hear me? Never! They won't have us, I won't let them ruin my family. Ha! We'll show them what us normal people can do." Dudley exchanged a worried glance with his mum as they heard the manic grin in Vernon's voice.

" Um, do you think maybe we should…"

" They're not that easy to avoid, you know. They have this awesome thing called _magic_" They heard Harry taunt.

" Just standing in the hallway, just in case, won't really count as interference." She reasoned. Without wasting a second, they both hurried up the stairs making sure to stay as quiet as possible, though it seemed like the effort was wasted at this point.

" – and magic carpets with honing spells, they track you like a missile, I heard they haven't quite got the brakes to work yet so they might actually be just like a missiles."

" Stop speaking of such things! There will be none of that in my house. You won't be going and that's final!" Vernon yelled, the nosy neighbours forgotten about long ago. They heard a thump from the main bedroom, with Harry laughing soon after.

" What on earth do you think your doing." She giggled. Dudley was startled slightly as he realised his mum had crept right up to the door and was peering through the opening in the door. Damn it, she was good. Dudley resigned himself to lying on the floor to see through as well.

A suitcase came flying passed his sight, landing on the bed with a slight thud, a few shirts and a pair of jeans quickly followed it. Twisting his neck he saw Harry swaying on her heels, fairly cheerfully. She was holding one of his dad's work shirts.

" Hm, this is a nice shirt, I'm sure I could spruce it up tough, a Hawaiian pattern would suit you, don't you think?" Harry joked.

" You think that's going to stop me? They can't take you if they can't find us." Vernon said smugly.

" That's you plan? To go on holiday?"

" Oh no, we going away, far away!" Vernon schemed. It was then that Aunt Petunia decided that she'd had enough.

" Put those back in the wardrobe, Vernon. You're sounding like a mad man." Petunia glared at Harry as she marched into the room.

" But, we can't let this go! We've got to beat them!"

" We've _got_ to do no such thing. This is a part of her we can't get rid of, as she's already proved. You've just got to come to terms with it." She scolded.

" I do not! We don't have to put up with her madness, right." He turned to Dudley for support. Dudley instantly looked guilty.

" I'm sorry Dad, it's kinda good." He said quietly, not meeting his dad's eyes.

" I can't believe this, you've turned them all against me! You're a freak! This isn't right, why can no-one see it?" Vernon shouted. He got no reaction. " Fine, I'll be back when you lot come to your senses!"

With that, he closed the zip to the half packed duffle bag, threw it on his shoulder and stalked out the room. A few seconds later they heard the tell tale sign of the door being slammed shut, closely followed by the roar of the engine as he took off.

The silence was broken by a sniffle from Dudley. Aunt Petunia was by his side in seconds, wrapping him in a death hug.

" Oh, don't worry Dudley, this isn't the first time he's pulled such a stunt when things don't go his way. He didn't mean to put you down"

Harry rolled her eyes at the lack of support being thrown her way. Her Aunt obviously couldn't say the same to her.

" I've never disappointed Dad like that before, it's always been Harry. Is he going to hate me too?" Dudley sniffed again as he questioned. Harry felt slightly guilty at this, she hadn't been thinking of Dudley when she brought him into it.

" No, he just says a lot of things he doesn't mean when he's angry, and trust me I will be having words with that man when he gets back. Mark my words, he'll be back by the end of tomorrow, ready to spend the night on the couch." She let Dudley go as he finished collecting himself. She glanced over at Harry who felt even worse.

" Sorry." She murmured. Dudley smiled at her.

" Don't worry, it was quite funny. I was thinking of getting him a Hawaiian shirt for Christmas, you've ruined that for me now." He joked. Harry was relieved that there were no hard feelings. Her Aunt cleared her throat as she walked over to Harry nervously and put her hand on her shoulder.

" It'll be okay." Harry hid her cringe at the awkwardness. She was grateful for the attempt at least.

" Thanks." She reply, just as awkward. Aunt Petunia removed her hand and moved on to put the rest of the clothes and suitcases back in the wardrobe.

" Oh and Harry, next time you're given a task, try to do it a bit more maturely. You're lucky it was only clothes that were being thrown about." Aunt Petunia gave her a pointed look. Harry laughed nervously.

" Haha, right. Well, I'd better go, do chores, yeah." She ran out of the room before her Aunt started on any of the many other things that she messed up on there. She glared at Dudley on the way past as she heard him chuckle.

" Smooth." She heard from her pocket. Great, she couldn't escape the mocking anywhere now days.

- HP -

True to prediction, Vernon had returned home the next night, just after tea, slightly resembling a kicked puppy. Harry was shocked to discover that not only did he apparently have emotions, but he had a look that didn't annoy the hell out of her. Shame it wasn't ever directed to her.

After a stern talking to from her Aunt, Vernon apologised to Dudley while still managing to impressively ignore and insult Harry at the same time.

Since being informed by his wife that once Harry would be gone for most of the year after September 1st Vernon had given into the idea of her going to the school.

He now tended to just avoid being home at the same time as Harry as much as possible, though he managed to get away without much trouble from Aunt Petunia by claiming that he was doing it for the over time.

Just over a week later, her Aunt sat her down to talk about her 'situation', as she called it.

" Go on Dud, I'll catch up with everyone another day." Harry told him as he hesitated about leaving for the park still. Truthfully, Harry was happy enough that she hadn't ruined their relationship with her previous stunt.

Satisfied with her answer, Dudley hurried out the door. She joined her Aunt in the sitting room, hoping she hadn't changed her mind about supporting Harry. She'd been extremely useful at holding Vernon back as she had promised.

" Harry, I know I told you before that I have very limited knowledge on your world, but there are a few things I remember, it was hard to avoid sometimes." Harry ignored the slight jealously in her Aunt's voice.

" I do remember about how your mum had someone show her around the Wizarding World so I finally wrote to them yesterday to get them to send someone to explain everything to you." Harry looked surprised at this. " Oh get that look off of your face, I don't even know how to get to the place for your school supplies, they should have at least considered this. Thankfully they respond quickly at least, so someone will be here soon to talk to you."

" Already? How did you get in contact with them?" Harry asked.

" They had an owl spying on us in the back garden." She saw Harry's unbelieving look. Harry had gotten used to her Aunt's slight bias.

"Fine, it was waiting for the reply to say whether you were going. It took a lot of effort to convince your Uncle not to shoot it down mind you. Then again, my father had a very similar reaction" She smiled gently at the memory. Harry cleared her throat.

" So they were just going to leave me high and dry? I mean if they knew enough about you to know to leave me with you, they'd obviously know you're not a witch wouldn't they?" Harry questioned.

" Yes, you'd think so but like I told you, Wizards and Witches aren't always known for they're common sense. Got too many things to replace it with." She criticised.

" Oh yes, how considerate of them. Well, I'm not going to make this easy for them." She huffed, crossing her arms. Alice laughed from in her pocket. Harry wondered momentarily how no-one had managed to find her yet.

" Harry." Her Aunt warned, though she failed to hide her smile.

" Don't worry, ill just act like the unknowing muggle that I could have been. I'll just give them my honest reaction." Harry smiled sweetly.

" That's what worries me." Aunt Petunia muttered. The door bell rang and Harry's grin grew.

" Oh dear." She brushed down her peach shirt and went to answer the door while Harry started to plot.

" Harry dear, this will is one of your teachers from the school." Her aunt interrupted her lovely thoughts. She took a good look at the women in front of her. Long green jacket covering a pin striped black suit and wiry grey hair held up in a bun, it may not have been the most fashionable outfit but she looked mostly normal.

" Hello Miss Potter, I'm Professor McGonagall, I'm here to check up on you." Harry saw her Aunt barely hold back a snort from behind the Professor. " And to tell you about our world. I'll also be your Transfiguration teacher when you start Hogwarts."

Excellent, she had given her a perfect opening. The aging professor looked fairly strict, though not unfriendly, Harry almost felt sorry for her.

" I'm sorry, my Aunt has only just informed me of this meeting. And I'm sorry that she's wasted your time." Harry apologised.

" So you do know about the wizarding world then." The professor smiled in relief.

" Oh no, I've decided that I won't be going." She explained.

" What? But why on earth not! You've been down for Hogwarts ever since you were born!" McGonagall exclaimed.

" It's very simple really. You hit me. In the head. With a letter… That's not very friendly in most cultures you know."

" So it's nothing to do with the magic, or any views?" She hinted.

" Nope just the physical violence your staff inflicted on me." Harry explained cheerfully.

" Staff? Miss Potter we use owls to deliver messages."

" Yes I know, your hired owl had very bad service, that was quite a paper cut I got." McGonagall was looking slightly distressed by now.

" But you can't not attend Hogwarts over a paper cut! That's –" She seemed to stop herself before she could say anything potentially insulting. At least she had manners. "unheard of."

" Well, I'm also quite partial to this other school, Smeltings, that my cousin will be attending. It offers some excellent courses and extra curriculum activities." Harry only felt slightly bad as the professor look positively insulted by this.

" Courses? Hogwarts offers every course that a first year student would need in the magical world! You'll be learning magic! You'd really rather go to a muggle school?" She could hear the implied 'are we really that bad' and wasn't sure whether she felt bad for the women or that the wizarding world should get over themselves.

" Weellll," Harry dragged out, " I suppose it does sound fairly interesting. But your school is yet to explain to me why I should attend, much less anything else."

Both she and her Aunt held back their laughter as the women in front of them spluttered in shock, unable to form a reply immediately.

" I hadn't realised you felt like that Harry dear, I apologise. Perhaps we should sit down for this." Aunt Petunia said as sympathetically as she could manage, leading the professor to the arm chair.

" I'm sorry also Miss Potter, I was under the impression that you already knew about the magic world." _Yeah, because we called you hear to discuss my bank account. Oh my god! They probably have banks!_ McGonagall mistook her look of shock as a reaction to her statement.

" I'm afraid I'm unsure as to how much you know about magic, Miss Potter." She stated.

" We haven't told her anything, except about her parents lately." Her Aunt informed her honestly. Harry smirked internally at her Aunts' slyness. McGonagall looked disappointed at this and was looking suspiciously between the two. Harry decided it was her time to bail out her Aunt.

" Yes, I'm very grateful too." McGonagall looked shocked again at this statement. "It was very upsetting to find out the true nature of their deaths, I'm glad my Aunt was here to sit me down and explain it."

She hated the pitying look she received at this. She had a feeling many people in the wizarding world was going to annoy her.

" You're parents were great Wizards, Harriett. I taught them, too, they were wonderful people. When you get to Hogwarts you'll find many people that you can talk to about them." She said sincerely.

" I'm sorry, but you still haven't explain why I should go."

" But it was what they would have wanted." Had Harry not already believed that Professor McGonagall was sincere in her answers, she would make sure that everyone knew how much she disliked that statement. It seemed far too much like playing the guilt card, which many people would probably be ready to do, she realised. She took a deep breath before replying.

" I appreciate knowing what my parents would have wanted for me, but I need to live my own life also." Harry stated tensely.

" Of course," McGonagall nodded. " I'm sorry for making this too personal."

" Well, the first year courses consist of Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology and History of Magic as your core subjects. You will also get the option of Flying practise if you wish, there will also be a number of other clubs running such as the school choir, study groups and shiftboarding, though if you get enough people together it's easy to start up any activity."

Harry had to admit that she was impressed with the change of topic, and information, though she was slightly disappointed as McGonagall slipped into professor mode as she spoke about the school. She hadn't realised that that had been the professor loosened up.

" In third year, students will get the option to select three or four courses to take at O.W.L level, Ordinary Wizarding Levels that is. They will take these until fifth year, where they will get the option of dropping courses, and if they have proven themselves able, pick up other courses. They will then take these for N.E.W.T level, Nasty Exhausting Wizarding Tests, during their seventh year."

" We do have a broacher for the school after it was suggested some years ago, though I have been informed before that our grading system is fairly similar to the muggle one. There are also some booklets I can hand you as an introduction to the wizarding world."

" So you do still do that, then?" Aunt Petunia cut in tersely. " I thought they had stopped after Harry didn't receive anything, though the broacher does sound like a good idea."

" Yes, I'm afraid we presumed too much with your situation, I'll be finding out why this has happened later. That's all the information I have for now, I'll collect the leaflets for you to look over and leave you to it."

" Actually, I'd like to give my reply now if that's okay."

" Of course, you'll need to write it down still, however, as Hogwarts runs on a documentation system."

" Oh that's fine. Aunt Petunia, would you be able to get me some paper while I find a pen, please?" Harry asked sweetly. She was attempted to be ignorant, not rebellious after all.

" Of course Harry, biros are in the draw beneath the telephone." Her Aunt replied as she walked out into the kitchen. Harry knew she was wondering what her plan was. With the items gathered, Harry set about writing her perfect reply.

" Okay, I'm not entirely sure if it's been worded right but it should get the message across." Harry told McGonagall as she folded the paper in half, before passing it to her.

The Professor visibly held her breath as she opened the letter, quickly scanning it through.

" Excellent. I'm sure that you're going to love Hogwarts " She smiled, " Though I will have to get back to you on the exchange program idea, the Hogwarts hasn't held such a thing in over 50 years."

Harry could admit that she was surprised, not only because that was the part McGongall had decided to pick up on, but also because the wizarding world had done this at one point. Maybe they really were living backwards and would enter the bronze ages soon.

" That's good to know, thank you. But I was also wondering when I would be able to get my things, as I said, my Aunt doesn't know about the Wizarding world enough to take me."

" As a muggle-raised student, you can have a professor introduce you to the wizarding world. There aren't any other professors available today, but if you are willing to wait for an hour while I file your reply then I would be more than happy to show you around."

" That would be amazing, thank you Professor! And before you go, would it be possible to keep a copy of that letter, I like to keep receipts and copies of things organised, you see." Harry replied as cheerful as she could. She was rewarded with a wary look.

" Yes, well, it's the least we could do now, you can have that copy now." Harry was startled when the Professor simply waved her wand over the piece of paper and pulled a copy away from it. She would have to get used to people talking literally. " I'll take my leave now and be back soon."

And with that, she disappeared with a pop.

" She jumped!" Harry squealed excitedly, bouncing on the spot.

" She what?" Her Aunt questioned.

" Nothing." She'd forgotten that no-one else knew about that. " Don't you want to see the letter that I held back especially for you?" She waved the letter towards her, knowing that her Aunt's current curiosity would over rule her worry for her sanity.

" Let's read that then." She said taking it out of Harry's hand. Harry pushed her Aunt's hand out so that she could also read along with her and admire her handiwork.

_Dear Headmaster, your Supreme Mugwump,_

_I am writing to inform you that I have received your invitation to your school and to inform you of my decision regarding it._

_Firstly, I would like you to know I was quite upset when I realised I had been completely missed when you were sending out teachers, my Aunt doesn't know a lot about the Wizarding world because of being a muggle, I think they're called, so I have very limited information and could have easily missed out on the opportunity completely. _

_I can only assume that the person who placed me with my Aunt's family must have failed to inform you of this important detail and would like you to know that I do not blame you for this mistake. There are many people that merely do not keep on top of these things, one of my favourite sayings is 'An unorganised mind, an unorganised life' as it tends to help avoid major problems._

_While I have the chance to contact you, I would also like to talk about your staff. I admit to having very mixed feelings at this moment in time. Up until a few hours ago I found myself not wanting to attend Hogwarts due to the aggressiveness of your staff, though the teacher, Professor McGonagall, that you sent has been more than helpful and I can only hope that the rest of your staff are like her. My highest appraisal to her._

_I was also wondering if there was any information available about other wizarding schools, both in the United Kingdom and other countries, as I am very interested in seeing what they are like in comparison to Hogwarts. Seeing what other schools teach and what they are like may be very beneficial after all._

_Now I must thank you for taking the time to read my letter, and would like to accept my place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry._

_Thank you very much for you time, _

_Harriett Rosalie Potter. _

Looked at her Aunt for a reaction but she was currently just staring at the letter.

" Well I thought it was very well written for someone my age, it's exactly like how we were taught to write letters" Harry grinned.

" Your pushing your luck with that letter." Her Aunt sighed and stared at her. Harry stared back.

" Fine, you did well preparing for trouble." Aunt Petunia grinned at her. " And I would love to be in the same room as the old man when he reads this, _I could have easily missed out on this opportunity altogether._ Ha! It'll send him into a mad panic." She chuckled.

" I knew you'd see the brighter side of things." Harry laughed. She was fairly proud of her work.

" I know I said to take certain pre-cautions but even I hadn't thought that you'd start this early. They'll never know what hit them."

- HP -

The following hour had been filled with a few more laughs at the expense of the controlling Headmaster, but mainly Aunt Petunia had been reminding Harry of her list of things to be careful of.

1. No talking to strangers, taking candy from strangers or heading off with strangers.

2. You may be a little bit famous so watch out for creepy fans.

3. Adults are the ones that start feuds with each other, they are not perfect. Be cautious of everyone.

4. You have money, a lot of it, people _are_ going to try to take this from you or attempt to control it so be smart with it.

5. Harry was sure there was a number five but seemingly just nodding was a good enough response for this one.

" Are you listening to me?" Aunt Petunia gazed at her suspiciously.

" Of course I am, you've already told me everything before, you might as well just give me a summary sheet and a pop quiz and we'll be done here."

" Enough of your cheek, I'm worry about this trip enough as it is. It's one minute until she comes back now, and she's going to be on time, these representatives like to be on time but don't be fooled into thinking that that's a regular thing." She warned. It seemed to Harry that her Aunt wanted her to know that the wizarding world held all of the same faults that theirs did.

" Yeah, they're not gods. Never have been, never will be and I won't be either. I _get_ it, really." Harry said exasperated. " Stop worrying so much, it's a day trip to a shopping centre, you can give me a grand recap before I head of to Hogwarts. For now-"

_Pop._

" Ahhh! Damn it! That still surprises me." Harry exclaimed, she saw her Aunt put her hand on her chest in an attempt to calm her own heart.

" My apologies Miss Potter, as you're not connected to the floo network this is the best way for me to arrive here." Professor McGonagall stated. Harry blinked.

" Okay I really hope those leaflets will explain about that. But I have to ask, robes? Really?" During the time that she had been gone, McGonagall had changed into a slim green robe, similar to her previous coat, and was now bearing plain black trousers and a white shirt.

" I can assure you that you will get used to these, many muggleborns are unsure about them at first but they are a part of most outfits." She replied. Harry still looked fairly unsure, dresses had never suited her that well and she didn't think these would be that different. Aunt Petunia was also eying the robes with slight disgust.

" If that's all of the questions, are you ready to leave?" Harry nodded. " Very well, we'll be back in a few hours Mrs Dursley. Now, if you'd just grab my hand, Miss Potter."

_Pop._ It felt like the wind had been knocked out of Harry and she struggled to catch her breath.

" Deep breaths now, the first time's never pleasant, it will get easier to more you get used to it. Come on, deep breaths."

Harry concentrated on the voice as she became more aware of her surroundings. She could hear the murmurs from the rest of the room, and jumped as a fire flared for a few seconds to her right. She looked up to see an old, wooden bar tended by an old man. He smiled at them, revealing a number of lost teeth.

" Morning Professor, Hogwarts I guess?" He asked. " Don't worry about that kid, you'll learn to ride with it so it only feels like a pulling sensation. Don't fight it next time."

" Good morning Tom, it's good to see you again but I'm afraid we must keep moving." McGonagall replied politely.

" 'Course, 'course. Have a good day won't you." He nodded to them before moving down the bar to serve some customers.

" Follow me, this will take us to the entrance of Diagon Alley." She hustled Harry impatiently.

" Hey I can walk." Harry scowled from into front of the Professor.

" It can't be." She heard from the bar. This came from the large man that had just been served, he was staring at her in amazement. " Harriett, it's really you."

Before Harry could even question just why Professor McGonagall was shaking her head in dismay, she was ambush by the patrons from all sides.

" Miss Potter it's an honour to finally meet you."

" I can't believe you're here, right in front of me."

" Harriett, I can't tell you how great this moment truly is."

" Will you bless my baby?"

She was shaking hands in all directions, people seemingly didn't care if they were shaking a hand that was tangled past her other arm or over her head. It seemed that she was more than a bit famous, and she was fairly sure this constituted for creepy fans. So she screamed, loudly.

There was silence.

" Thank you very much. Professor?" She turned to McGonagall as if she had had something to say.

" Oh! Well, I'm sure you're very excited to meet Miss Potter but I'm afraid we have things we have to be getting on with, though I'm sure she appreciates all of you're best wishes." Harry was sure there was a small glare under the Professor's stern exterior being directed directly at her. Oh well, she was the responsible adult here.

" Yes, thank you all, though I'm just a normal person too like Cher." It was till silent. " Oh and I would like to say now that I don't bless people or anything so please never ask again, I'd probably end up accidentally cursing them." She figured she'd better get that one out of the way before it caused problems.

The crowd slowly shuffled away, and the few patrons that attempted to shake her hand again were sent away with a firm glare from Professor McGonagall. Eventually they were left alone and McGonagall reluctantly directed Harry over to the large sniffling man.

" That was well handled Harriett." No thanks to you. " You're mum was good at keeping a clear head too."

" You knew them?" Harriett asked, surprised. Since finding out that her parents were considered heroes, she'd forgotten that they would have had friends and acquaintances when they were alive.

" O' course, sorry let me introduce myself. I'm Hagrid, Keeper o' Keys, I knew your parents when they went to Hogwarts." He grinned at her.

" Did you go to school with them?" She asked.

" Nah, I was the Grounds Keeper then too, always having to chase your dad away from the forest. Your mum was more interested in the magical creatures though, we used to have tea sometimes." Hagrid smiled before taking a moment to examine Harry.

" You're just like you mother, you have her eyes you know," He sniffed. " I bet you hear that all the time though."

" No, I actually I don't. I don't know much about them." Harry replied quietly. Truthfully it was one of the only things she had ever heard about her mum due to her Aunt's refusal to talk about her.

" Yeah, you do, and you look kinda like your dad too. Got his nose you have." That was slightly less pleasing. _Great, out of everything I could possibly inherit._ " And your hair, his was uncontrollable too." _Lets hope people will focus on that instead._

" Hello again Hagrid." Harry almost jumped as McGonagall returned.

" Ah, professor McGonagall, great to see you again. How you doing?" Hagrid greeted warmly. Harry wondered if he ever stopped smiling.

" Just fine, thank you Hagrid. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take Harry to get her school things now though." His smiled dropped slightly but still stayed on his face.

" Oh right. That'll be good, you'll love today Harry. I suppose I should get on with a few things as well, yeah I'll go do that. Hopefully I'll meet you later then, Harry." He said hopefully. Harry couldn't bear to let him down, he was like a giant teddy.

" I'm sure we can meet up later, right Professor?" She asked McGonagall.

" Of course," She agreed easily. " How about we meet you for at Florean Fortescue's at 2?"

" That sounds perfect, give me time to get that thing and have another drink." He replied, standing and grabbing his coat. " Think I'll just go chat to Professor Quirrell over there first."

" Of course you will." Professor McGonagall sighed. " Come on Harry."

Harry watched Hagrid disappear to the other side of the bar before moving to catch up with Professor McGonagall. She rounded the corner to face – a stone wall.

Harry peered around McGonagall to see if there was a secret switch somewhere.

" Don't worry, we're in the right place." McGonagall smiled. " The Wizarding World likes to hide it's entrances from prying eyes, should a muggle somehow end up in the Leaky Cauldron, it would be far less damaging, and more obvious, if they were kept in the pub rather than let out into our shopping area."

Harry was surprised at the small amount of comment sense finally displayed by the Wizarding World. It really gave support towards her reversing society idea.

" Now, to get into Diagon Alley you need to just tap this brick here with your wand, two across and three up from the dark brick." She demonstrated by pressing said brick. Harry watched in amazement as the bricks seemingly pulled back on themselves to form an archway into the magical alley.

" Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley."

- HP -

Okay I know that I said this chapter would be at Diagon Alley, but it seems I just couldn't let McGonagall have it easy ;) I thinks it's safe to say that the next chapter will be Diagon Alley though.

Next chapter should be up a lot quicker, it's already been started.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Hey all. The next instalment is finally up so thanks for sticking with me, just like to mention that if this story is ever abandoned I will let you know.

In other news, thanks to everyone that reviewed. It's only little details so far but female Harry is going to have a very different life to her male counterpart so you'll just have to read and see what happens :) enjoy

- HP -

First Look

" Welcome, Harry, to Diagon Alley."

Harry took her first look at the street and smirked. She clapped her hands and spun to face the Professor McGonagall.

" Where to first, Professor?" She asked extremely cheerfully. The Professor was taken aback for moment.

" Gringotts. The Wizarding Banks that is." She recovered, though she was watching Harry slightly warily, probably for good reason as Harry was still grinning manically. " You're parents left you a fairly large inheritance, that will pay for you're school things over the next seven years."

" Yep I know, Aunt Petunia warned me about it." She informed casually as she resumed walking down the quiet street. Harry watched as the shop keepers went about putting up signs in their stores and cleaning the front of their stores in preparation for the day, none of this was done by hand she noticed.

" Warned?" McGonagall questioned, obviously surprised. " She knew about it?"

" Of course, she knew my Dad was a Lord or something and apparently my mum would do something really bad to him if he didn't save it for me. That's her reasoning anyways."

" Right." The Professor seemed slightly thrown by her statement. " Well, just so you know, despite your father's immaturity he would have done his best to provide for you, no threats needed."

" Thanks, that's good to know." Harry said sincerely. A small glint of gold from what looked to be a shop of broomsticks caught her eye. These people really did have some weird hobbies.

" So does that mean you're ol- I mean, you taught my parents then?" _Good save._ Harry mentally praised herself before catching sight of the Professor's pursed lips. _Or not._ For such a stern women, Harry seemed remarkably successful for bringing out visible reactions, such as the small glare now being sent her way. Again.

" Yes, I was their Head of House, which meant that I spent a fair amount of time with both of your parents, though the reasons were extremely different. Whereas your mother was very academic, I was constantly having to deal with you're father and his group of friends as a result of their latest prank, up until their fifth year anyways. Hopefully you won't be causing as much havoc." She said with a pointed stare.

Harry just giggled nervously because really, there was really nothing she could say against that without lying.

" Ooo, animals parts! Awesome!" Harry internally winced as she gazed at The Apothecary with fake glee. _Great distraction there, really _she thought sarcastically. The visible grimace on McGonagall's face, however, almost made her embarrassment worth it.

" That's where you'll be getting your potion ingredients, it's far more plant based in the first years to keep the potions less explosive." Harry was disappointed to note that McGonagall had quickly recovered and wore what she had dubbed the 'Stern Face', though her eye seemed to be twitching slightly.

" Cool, it sounds like biology and chemistry mixed into one subject, I was worried that potions would be like cooking ,'stir and wait for it to boil' but that sounds way more fun, I wonder if we actually dissect the animals to keep the stuff fresh." Yep, her left eye was definitely twitching.

Harry decided now would be a good time to stop talking, she didn't want her new Professor to thing she was some sort of crazy serial killer. As fun as messing with people could be, she could already see the headlines 'Fame went to her head, so she took other peoples! The Horror! Read all about this teen tragedy on page 3".

" And this is Gringotts." Professor McGonagall announced after a small silence. Harry looked up to take in the huge stone building, it was impressive in both it's size and decoration, though she didn't get the chance to see what was on the gold plate as they went straight in. The golden doors seemed to take a surprising lack of effort to open for their size. "By the way, it's best that you don't stare at the Goblins, they don't like it."

Despite the warning, Harry could help but be slightly shocked at the sight of the tiny green creatures that seemed to be both running about the bank and staffing the desks. Their deep skin colour and dark red uniform clearly stood out against the glossy marble décor.

" The Goblins are very sensitive about providing the best service possible, it's one of the safest places in Britain and you won't find better money keepers anywhere." _That's probably more due to their nature, though, if myths are right_, Harry thought as they headed to an empty desk.

" Good morning." McGonagall greeted. The Goblin at the desk stopped scribbling to peer up at the Professor, then down at Harry. _If you weren't standing on a stool I could so look down on you, _She thought moodily.

" Morning." The Goblin grunted. That seemed to be as pleasant as it got.

" Miss Potter here would like to make a withdrawal from her account." She informed him as she put a small golden key on the desk. The Goblin grabbed the key and jumped off of the stool, disappearing for a second.

" Follow me." He instructed as he strode towards the huge doors opposite the main entrance, never stopping to look backwards. The two witches had to jog slightly to catch up, falling either side of the Goblin. _Ha, I was right, I am taller._ Harry grinned at her victory, it wasn't something she could claim very often after all.

As they neared the inner doors Harry saw that like the entrance doors, these were elegantly decorated with a mix of silver swirls, though these were closely watched over by goblins on either side.

Stepping through, Harry was slightly amused to see a queue of what looked like mining carts waiting at a marble platform, looking slightly outdated. Still, the Goblin didn't pause to settle into the cart so Harry followed the Professor into it.

" Can this thing go any faster?" She asked as they set off.

" One speed only." Was the unenthusiastic reply.

" What if you attached a jet pack to it?" The Goblin paused for a second.

" Untested." Harry grinned as Professor McGonagall looked slightly worried.

" I'm sure the magic on these work just fine." Harry's grin only grew as she noticed a tiny smirk appearing on the Goblin. Oh how she hoped she started something there.

After another few minutes they screeched to a stop outside a regular looking vault. Well regular compared to the previous fifty odd they had just past. Jumping out the cart, they stood in front of the door as the Goblin unlocked it with her key, a series of clicks following, ending with a loud bang. Harry was starting to think these Goblins really liked their dramatics.

The giant doors slowly swung open and Harry's jaw dropped as she took in the sight before her. Gold. Lots and lots of gold.

Harry took a moment to inspect both the mass amount of metal in the room and her companions' reactions. The Goblin was completely indifferent, but Professor McGonagall was looking far too pleased with Harry's reaction for her liking. She would really have to change that.

" Excuse me," Harry started politely, "but I've heard that as bankers you are extremely efficient. I was wondering if you have a system that will re-organise the money in here after I have taken something out." Both Goblin and Professor looked surprised at her question.

" Yes we do, though even most Wizards don't realise this. This vault has been organised to keep the Galleons at the front, then the sickles are to you're right and knuts would be beside them, though there aren't any in here at the moment." Harry saw the small pile of what looked to be around a hundred silver coins.

" I didn't realise you were quite so organised." McGonagall commented. Harry supposed she _should_ encourage what good impression she could get.

" Well yes I do like to keep things tidy as a rule, it just makes things so much easier, but that's not actually why I asked." Harry took her own dramatic pause. "I just didn't want to upset or offend anyone when I did this."

Before anyone could react, Harry took a step back and charged forward with a yell, leaping into the nearest mountain of gold.

" Money, money, money! Always funny! In a rich girl's world!" She sang, or rather screamed, rolling around and throwing coins in the air with manic laughter.

It took a few minutes before her giggles subsided, and it was much longer than that for McGonagall to stop looking worried for Harry's sanity, but eventually Harry managed to collect herself together. Standing up, she brushed down her clothes as she considered her next steps in this new world.

" I've got another question for you, now." Both Professor and Goblin looked worried at her statement. Harry stop straightening out her top to offer them what she hoped was a re-assuring smile.

" I was wondering if you sell any super awesome money bags." Harry felt slightly offended when neither companions' expressions changed.

" And what would this bag be used for?" Professor McGonagall asked cautiously, Harry resisted the urge to roll her eyes. _To carry money, obviously. _Common sense and a snarky comment, her Aunt would be proud.

" Well, I know that I need money to buy my school things, but I would also like to take some money to school with me, just in case it's needed. Since things are magic around here, I was kinda hoping for an unlimited, auto-refill, bank transferable bag."

" We sell extendable money bags. 1 galleon for a small one. 10 galleons for a big one. The big bag has an extra compartment for small items. Nothing else." Goblin was glaring at Harry as if challenging her to ask why. Harry gulped and wisely decided not to comment on it.

" Galleons is the gold ones I'm guessing?" A head nod from the goblin confirmed this. " Okay, I'll take the big one then, sounds like it could be really useful."

It wasn't long until a decent amount of money was collected into her new bag and they were back out in the alley.

" So, where to next?" Harry asked as they stepped back out into the sunlight. She was glad to get away from the Goblin, she guessed that other muggleborns had had the idea first, at least she could lay claim on the jet pack though. She giggled at the thought of jet pack attached carts greeting her next year.

" I think Madame Malkin's first would be best, it's always easiest to get the clothes out of the way while it's quiet." Harry groaned. She wasn't sure what was worse, having to wear dresses constantly or the fact that she would have to face crowds later, in a place where she was apparently famous. Great.

A reluctant Harry followed McGonagall into the shop, instantly veering off to the side in an attempt to prolong the inevitable.

" Ah you must be another one for Hogwarts." The lady smiled cheerfully, it took all of Harry's will power not to scowl back. " Hop up on the stool, I'll be over to take your measurements in a moment."

After another pointed look from McGonagall, Harry conceded defeat and walked over to an unused stool by the windows. To her left another boy was already being fitted, he was holding his arms out, though his eyes were closed.

" Don't drop your arms and stay awake." Madame Malkin chided and the boy jolted as his eyes shot open.

" I wasn't asleep" He muttered. Suddenly tape measures seemed to jump to life as they flew around Harry. She gulped slightly as she willed herself to ignore this.

" Just resting your eyes." Harry added with a smile. _Alright_ she thought, _first normal magic person, don't mess this up!_ The boy merely turned his head to inspect her. After a few moments silence he spoke back.

" Blaise. I'm not a fan of clothes shopping." It took a few moments for Harry to realise that he was telling her his name.

" Oh, Harry. I'm Harry. I'm not really into shopping either, I would rather be outside." Harry blushed slightly at her less than perfect introduction.

" Sporty?" He asked casually. There was a moment of panic as Harry realised that she didn't know about any wizarding sports.

" I'm quite into running." She settled with as a safe option. Harry panicked slightly as she realised that she lacked social abilities in both the normal and wizarding world. Her panic, however, seemed pointless as Blaise simply nodded in response.

" Alright you're all done dear." Madame Malkin wandered back over. Blaise hopped down from the stool,

" Perhaps I'll see you on the train." He smiled as he headed towards the till at the back of the shop.

" Yeah, perhaps." Harry replied but Blaise had already disappeared between the racks. That could have gone worse. She didn't quite make a friend but at least she hadn't made him hate her, that would have been be just her luck.

" You're good to go as well deary, the Professor's already pulled up the robes you need, non-uniform robes are over to your right." She smiled at Harry as the tape measures dropped back to the floor. Not wanting the seamstress to suddenly change her mind, it had been a quick measuring, Harry hurried down from the stool and heading over to the racks she had been pointed towards. Harry figured that she should have one extra robe in-case of emergency, though she shuddered at the thought of actually having to wear robes voluntary.

In her rush to find something as quickly as possible Harry ended up crashing into another shopper.

" I'm so sorry." Harry apologised as she picked herself up off of the floor, grabbing the robes she had apparently knock out of the other persons' hands.

" Watch what you're going, idiot!" A sharp voice snapped. Harry looked up to see a young girl push herself off of the rail behind her, glaring at Harry as she snatched the robes out of her hands. Like Harry, this girl had long black hair, unfortunately also like Harry, she seemed to have a quick temper.

" Hey, you could have as well." Harry argued, unable to help herself.

" Yes, because I'm constantly looking out for nutters who decide to run into people." She retorted sarcastically. " Or maybe I should if you're apparently being set loose on the place." She added snidely. Harry felt her face flush slightly.

" Don't worry, your precious hair and make-up is still intact so you can take your stuck-up self and go somewhere else now" Harry felt a small satisfaction as the other girl quickly ran her hand through her hair before scowling at her.

" Who do you think you are judging me." She demanded.

" Why would I tell you? You were the one doing the judging." Harry glared back. The staring contest last a few more moments before the other girl seemingly give in with a huff.

" Whatever, I'm not wasting my time here." With that, she span around, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she did, and stalked of towards the back of the store.

Harry turned back to the robes, banging her head against the railing the robes were held on.

" Great one Harry, no enemies." She muttered sarcastically as she let her head rest where it was. On the up side it seemed her arguments with Dudley had her well prepared, on the down side that probably wasn't the best way to introduce herself to the cranky girl.

" Is everything okay Miss Potter?" Harry turned her head to see the Professor looking concerned.

" Just peachy." Harry smiled amusedly at the McGonagall's confused expression before returning to burying her head in the robes.

" Well, in that case are you ready to buy your robes?" She could still hear a hint of confusion in the Professor's voice.

" Umm." Harry stalled. She pulled back from the robes to survey the clothes in front of her, only just noticing the vivid clash of colours. Robes that were bright pink, flashing blue, or glowing red were spread out in front of her and Harry had to doubt the sanity of wizards around here yet again.

Shuffling though the robes directly in front of her, Harry let out a sigh of relief as she found an almost normal colour robe; it was light blue and had a dark blue rim where the stitching would be on muggle clothes. It would bring out her eyes she was sure. Her green eyes. Harry sighed again. If anyone bothered her she could just hex them, she decided happily.

Turning around Harry was amused to see McGonagall also looking slightly relieved at her choice, it was comforting to know she wasn't the only one to find those robes hideous. Of course, that didn't stop Harry from looking back thoughtfully at a multicoloured, flashing robe.

" Ah, you probably won't want that one." Harry raised her eyebrow at the Professor's advice. She seemed to struggle find the right words. " You, er, you probably don't want to clash with the headmaster."

Harry quickly jumped back from the robe at the Professor's serious, if slightly disturbed, expression. Harry let out a nervous laugh as she waited for the Professor to laugh at her own joke. She waited a bit more.

" Yeah, lets go, I'm done here." Harry shuddered and quickly backed away from the robe.

" Good idea." McGonagall quickly agreed. Harry shook her head to clear out the disturbing images and quickly walked towards the till. This is what she got for attempting to mess with her teacher, it was so much easier to do in the normal world, things and people reacted predictably there.

" Oh what a nice robe, I'd hadn't realised we still had that." Madame Malkin smiled as she rang up the purchases. _Yeah, I wonder how you ever missed that in the land of bloody rainbows, the same one that my new headmaster apparently shops at _Harry thought sourly, she usually liked to find more creative words in place of swearing but decided the current situation called for it, _this is not going to be a good year, I just know it._

" It was good to see you again Professor, I hope you two had a nice shop." She finished up politely as she put the items in a bag.

" It was certainly interesting. I'll most likely see you again soon." The professor replied politely. Harry opted to stay quiet, fairly sure that her opinion wouldn't be appreciate.

" So are we done now?" Harry asked hopefully as they exited the store. McGonagall gave her unamused look.

" We have plenty more to get yet, first we should head to the bookstore, the apothecary-"

Harry groaned and stopped listening as Professor McGonagall listed of the different places that she would have to suffer through.

Thankfully Harry managed to go through the bookstore without incident, though she had decided to pick up a few extra books, one on wizarding culture, a potions book for beginners and The Amazing Adventures of Harry Potter. She received a raised eyebrow for the last one.

" If people's talking about me, I want to know what they're saying." She explained as they left the shop. Professor McGonagall stared at her for a moment before responding.

" That was a very, cunning, thing to do." She paused as she considered her wording.

" Not really, it's just nice to be prepared, helps with being organised." Harry grinned innocently at the Professor, hoping to increase her limited brownie points. She refused to drop her smile however when the Professor frowned.

" Gossip and the opinion of the masses isn't the only thing that matters, I hope you realise."

" Of course, that would be no fun, but it helps to know what they do think of you." The Professor nodded at this.

" Very true, just don't get caught up in it." She warned. Harry rolled her eyes at this obvious _it._ Like this was something she wanted to be famous for, when she was truly famous she would make damn sure it was for something she actually did.

" Don't worry, at most I'll please the masses of mindless fans, everyone else I'll just be normal with." She was sure she caught the Professor grimace at that so she added, " Hey, maybe I can just economise and make money of off the fools."

Harry grinned as she imagined the kinds of things she could make, maybe she could put her face on the regular mugs and shirts. She laughed, picturing her peers wearing her face on a top, especially a certain stuck up, black hair girl.

" Hmm." McGonagall seemed to accept with a sigh, opening the door to the Apothcary and holding it for Harry. " I think you might take a bit of time to get use to Wizarding world, but I'm sure you'll handle yourself just fine, reading that book of yours will likely be useful, though."

Harry nodded at the advice, though she didn't respond, her attention drawn to the glint of light on the shelf to her left. Hidden behind one of the jars, full of leaves she noted, seemed to be a petal made from pure silver. Hesitantly she picked it up.

" What's that you got?" She spun around guiltily, petal still in hand.

" Thieving already are you?" The lanky man sneered as he marched over.

" No! I-" She cursed as she saw Professor McGonagall on the other side of the store, supposedly look at the ingredients she actually needed.

" Then why you holding something that don't look like yours?" He swiftly snatched the petal out of her hand and looked at her scornfully.

" It, er, it was on the self and it caught my eye, I didn't suppose there were many ingredients that were so, silver." Harry frowned at her ineloquent wording, though the store worker seemed to wait for more information.

" Didn't think that it was pretty then?" He sneered again.

" What? Of course it is! I mean it's lovely sir, really." Harry gulped under his watchful eye. " I wasn't trying to steal anything, honest."

" All ingredients are better quality the less they are handled, keep looking but don't touch." Harry finally took note of the thin leather gloves he was wearing. Actually, didn't quite look like leather. " Good eye."

Harry was stunned by the apparently bipolar assistant as he stalked off to breath down another kid's shoulder, at least a third year she guessed from his height. Shaking her head she continued to look along the shelf, confident that the professor would get the important things.

Frog legs, cliché, eye of newt, boring, needle of Sphinx? Well that was different. The next jar seemed to hold just a rock, the label having been smudged. She turned around.

" Bezoar stone that is"

" Ah!" Harry jumped as she turned into his chest and quickly back up.

" Hadn't realised that got wet last week." He waved his wand at the label and a pen floated over and proceeded to scribble out 'Bezoar – antidote'.

" Excuse me, but what's that an antidote to?" She questioned hesitantly.

" This one does just about anything really, venom, bites, poison, some cursed beverage even." He spoke with a cheery grin that Harry couldn't help but find creepy. " It's not a cure to all of them, but it will slow down the poison at least. So many ways to attack someone, one thing can't fight all of it. Still the best all-in-one cure the wizarding world has though."

Harry blinked a few times in response and later refuse to inform Professor McGonagall why she felt it was necessary to purchase several extra unusual ingredients, including three bezoars.

" It's ok, I'll be back." Was all Harry said as the Professor questioned her again.

" That wasn't the question." She just sighed, having received those seemingly random answer for the last hour. " How about some ice cream? I'm sure we could both use a break."

This caught Harry's attention. She looked up to see the ice cream store just a few shops down.

" Sure that-" She sped up slightly. Yes, she had seen it right. There, two shops before the ice cream parlour, stood a baseball hat in all it's glory. Having been slightly paranoid since the Apothecary, Harry knew that she had seen people glancing at her forehead and was thankful her fringe had kept her scar covered so far.

" Actually that shop there looks pretty awesome, can we go there first please?" She pleaded. McGonagall scrunched her nose up slightly as she considered the shop. Harry could imagine her Aunt having a very similar reaction to what looked like a junk shop.

" Very well, but we may need to give the ice cream a miss then, depending on how long your wand will take."

" Great! That's fine." Harry practically ran into the store and grabbed the white hat from the display. She put it on her head as she walked over to the counter, pulling it down to ensure it covered the scar.

" 6 sickles." The cashier grinned at her." And don't be afraid to look around a bit more first."

" Here, I'd rather make sure I don't forget if you don't mind." She replied as she handed over the money.

" So you're still looking then?" Professor McGonagall questioned as she entered, looking slightly out of place in the cluttered store.

" Yep, this place looks like it might have some gems." The Professor looked slightly put out at this but simply nodded in response. Harry thought it fair after having dragged her to the robe shop.

Looking around Harry found she was right, there seemed a variety of items that she hadn't seen elsewhere. There was still the average quills, notepads and a few games she had seen in previous shops, but this was the first to introduce rainbow quills, which changed colour as you were writing.

A small section of hats caught her attention, thought the ones on the table ranged from sun hats to top hats. She didn't quite understand why they were called 'magic hats' though, unfortunately many of the items in the store seemed to be called 'magic' items and the best way to discover their purpose was to try it. Picking up the top hat she peered inside it, it would fit the style of the shop to have a rabbit on the inside or something. It looked like regular velvet.

" That's not the way." The cashier called over before returning to his book. The Professor looked equally as baffled when Harry looked over so she tried shaking it violently.

" There's a catch." Harry glared at the next bit of unhelpful advice. The young man simply laughed. " Look for the catch on the rim" He added eventually.

Harry did as she was told and found a small bit of velvet poking inside the hat like a tag. She pulled it experimentally and with a puff of smoke the top hat changed into a large straw hat with a note and a bow attached. 'Congratulations' was the simple message on the note. A small puff told her McGonagall had also found the 'catch', and was now holding a yellow builders helmet.

" Different varieties there, pick any two, no more than that mind you, and it can change to what ever you need at the time. Great for saving space or can be used to store a bit of money in if needed. We worked out that it can do that when we added the decorations. You found that quicker than most, not that that earns you a discount or anything." He nodded towards the hat in Harry's hand. Harry grinned, it was certainly an effective way of advertising, she conceded.

Eventually Harry was persuaded that two lots of the hats were enough for now and they joined the basket of quills, extreme bouncy balls, talking slippers, rainbow socks and a working watch. Well worth missing out on ice cream in Harry's opinion. As they left the store Harry laughed as she saw the name of the store, 'Magical Malore – For Those With _Style_'. The word style was cycling through all possible colours.

" I guess that means I've got style." Harry joked as the Professor put the bags in the suitcase they'd purchased. Unfortunately, like the money bags didn't have anything exceptionally amazing to it, though she had bought one that had an extended apartment and was lightweight. She was quite disappointed to discover the many limitations magic seemed to have, or at least magic items, and realise that she'd need to take her Aunts advice a bit more seriously.

" Yes, I suppose so, it's certainly different." Harry smiled at her obvious aversion to the place, though she was sure that the Professor was going to go back for that hat later. " For now it's time to get your wand."

This was what Harry had been waiting for. The rest of the day had been fun, and useful, but Harry was excited to finally be a true witch and control her power. She was literally bouncing by the time they reached 'Ollivander's - Makers of Fine Wands Since 382 B.C'

The door creaked as she pushed it open and she bounded into the dusty store. For a wizarding shop, she thought it would be easy enough to clean it a bit more.

" Good afternoon." Harry jumped as a voice sounded from beside her. " Miss Potter, I've been expecting you." Harry lowered her hat quickly.

" Don't mind that, there are over ways to tell one's identity. Professor McGonagall, busy still I see" He greeted.

" As always Ollivander, Miss Potter here's almost done though." Ollivander nodded.

" Wand hand?" He asked as he inspected her.

" Erm." She looked to the Professor for help.

" Writing hand." She informed Harry.

" Ah, I'm right handed then, my left's not too bad though." Harry jumped as tape measures jumped to life yet again. Ollivander inspected the shelves closest to the counter and pulled a black box off of the self.

" Enough." With a click of his fingers, the tape measures disappeared in a puff of smoke. Harry could admit that she was slightly impressed, there definitely wasn't a wand used then.

" Holly, Thestral tail hair, eleven inches. Give it a wave." Ollivander commanded. Following his order Harry felt a warmth grow through her arm and the wand in her hand shot yellow sparks from it. Ollivander and McGonagall were stunned.

" But that was the first time." Ollivander looked extremely disappointed at this.

" Is that not suppose to happen?" Harry just knew she'd manage to do something wrong.

" No, no. It's not you, I was just expecting it to be a bit more of a challenge is all. It's a brilliant wand, however, unusual core but not unheard of, it's excellent for defence." Ollivander perked up as he described his pride and joy with passion " It's got a fair amount of power to it too, if you know how to use it. I'm certain it's going to serve you well."

" How much will that be?" Professor McGonagall interrupted.

" Ah yes, that will be 7 galleons, 3 sickles for that wand. A very fair price." Harry handed the money over and put the wand in her back pocket.

" What are you doing!" Ollivander shouted desperately, dropping the coins on the counter, shocking the young witch. " Your wand! You can't put it there, do you know how easy that would be to lose or break?"

" It'll be fine?" Harry attempted to reassure him. " I can always afford a new one."

That seemed to be the wrong thing to say as his face went pale. Personally, she thought he was over reacted slightly.

" A wand is not to be treated carelessly, no two wands are the same and as such no two wands will respond to you in quite the same way. You must look after you're wand Miss Potter and keep it close. A wizard or witch will be lost without their wand."

" So I'm suppose to keep this on me at all times, I can't ever forget it or leave it in a pocket?" Harry questioned.

" Most certainly not!" The exclamation came from Professor McGonagall this time and Harry felt she was missing a big part of wizarding culture here.

" A witch or wizard has a special bond with their wand, Miss Potter. It will become your most trusted asset and constant companion." Ollivander explained as looked at the wand, slightly worried for it's well being.

" Alright then," Harry figured that she might as well go along with it and act like a proper witch, " well I guess we better start connecting then wand. I name thee, Brian!" She declared proudly, stretching her arm out above her and holding the wand out on her open palm. She saw that Ollivander looked even more worried.

" Don't worry, I'll take good care of Brian." McGonagall's twitch was back, she should really get that looked at. There was a pause before anyone spoke.

" Please, please look after that, wand holsters are 5 galleons if you wish to purchase one" Ollivander almost begged.

" Sure, sounds cool." Harry quickly agreed. Even if she didn't make use of it, she would have felt bad if the poor guy had a heart attack because of her.

" So does that not happen often then? Getting a wand quickly?" Harry asked after they had been ushered out of the shop. She still couldn't understand why it had gotten such a reaction.

" It can happen, I've had some students that have found their wand on the first few tries, but I've never seen him get it right first time. He enjoys the thrill of the challenge far too much to put much thought into it at the beginning I suspect."

" Doesn't that kind of defeat the point of his job though? You know, with unhappy, impatient customers and all?"

" Ah there's Hagrid, we're slightly early so it seems like we'll have time for that ice cream after all." Harry was fairly sure the Professor was just ignoring her question.

" Afternoon Professor, Harriett." Hagrid greeted cheerfully when they reached the ice cream parlour. " What can I get ya? This lots on me."

" Don't worry-"

" Really, Professor, I insit."

" Surprise us." Harry spoke up before the Professor could attempt to refuse again. She was really too polite for her own good, after all who gave up free ice cream?

" Alright then, but remember it was you has asked for that." Hagrid chuckled before wandering into the shop, leaving them to settle down at a table outside.

" So, Miss Potter, what do you think of the wizarding world so far?" McGonagall asked.

" It's… strange, good though, definitely a good strange. It's just so different to what I'm used to." _And slightly backward,s_ but she wasn't about to tell the Professor that, she'd offended enough people for one day.

" Alrighty then, one bloody concoction for you Harry, and a cockroach cluster for you Professor." Hagrid interrupted, placing a pink and red ice cream and a green and brown one in front of Harry and the Professor, respectively.

" No not really," Hagrid laughed as they both pushed they're deserts away from themselves. " I'm not that cruel, just a berry mix and a mint chocolate, and I nice blueberry one for myself, I thought you should try the, um, exotic flavours yourself."

" Do people really buy that weird stuff?" Harry asked, still poking her ice cream with a spoon.

" People, goblins, vampires shops round these parts tend to cater to most tastes." Hagrid explained.

" Vampires? There's actually real vampires, like Dracula?" She asked excitedly.

" Not during the day there isn't, muggles were right that the sunlight does burn them but they do exist, yes." The Professor took over.

" And Dracula?"

" Yes he was real," The Professor sighed, " He was a wizard turned vampire who had a few parlour tricks up his sleeve, he was vicious, don't get me wrong but he wasn't the most dangerous vampire to ever exist. You'll learn more about them in your fourth year."

" I have to wait till fourth year?"

" Well, you'll be introduced to them earlier but the classes won't go into detail yet. You could always do some extra reading ahead of time however." Harry nodded at the suggestion, as interesting as it was she knew she was likely to be distracted from the task quickly.

" It's possible." She replied. With nothing more to add, she gathered the courage to start on her ice cream.

" So Professor, have you got much more shopping to do?" Hagrid broke the silence that had fallen on them.

" That completely depends on Miss Potter here, the only stop we have left is the pet store but it's already busy around-"

" Yes!" Harry barely managed not to spit out any of the ice cream as she interrupted McGonagall. At the Professor's disapproving glare she wiped her mouth and finished her mouthful before continuing.

" I mean I would love to visit the store still, I don't mind it being a little crowded." She smiled hopefully. She couldn't believe she almost forgot to pick up anything for Alice, the first time she went to the store without buying Alice anything the snake had ignored her for a week.

" Mind if I tag along then? I need to look at some, erm owl treats." Hagrid's question would have been inconspicuous had it not been for the strange cough and stutter mid sentence.

" Of course not, Hagrid. Seems like that's decided then, we might as well get a move on before it gets any busier." McGonagall instructed as she picked up Harry's suitcase, decidedly ignoring Hagrid's strangeness. Maybe it was something you got used to

Getting through the crowds was a lot easier when you were following Hagrid, Harry found, as they easily made it to Magical Menagerie.

" Where are you going, Miss Potter?" McGonagall asked when Harry diverted from Hagrid.

" Just to the snake section, Professor" Harry was shuffling through the various different snake foods on display when the Professor caught up with her.

" Miss Potter, I would advised that an owl would be a much better choice of pet" McGonagall offered. Startled, Harry looked up to the Professor to she an uneasy look on her face.

" But I like snakes, they're awesome" Harry was slightly shocked to see the normally composed Professor bite her lip before replying.

" There are, perhaps, a few more things you should know about the wizarding world, Miss Potter. A lot of wizards are a bit superstitious, there are certain things that they connect with dark magic, and dark wizards and witches."

" And snakes are one of these things." Harry filled in. It wasn't a question, just an annoyed statement.

" Unfortunately, yes. The Slytherin House at Hogwarts is represented by snakes and since some notable dark wizards have come from that house there is a bad reputation for them." Harry wasn't entirely sure if the Professor was talking about Snakes or Slytherin by that point but it didn't change her mind on the matter.

" Well that's a load of cr- crud." She got a strange look for her choice of language, but managed to avoid a lecture. She carried on passionately. " It's an animal, sure an animal that can hurt humans but that's no different to any others in the wild, bears, wolves, lions or even dogs for example. Just because they're not cute and cuddly people see no need to care for them. Well screw them," She did receive a disapproving look for that" I'm gonna go and find the biggest, meanest snake possible to take to Hogwarts! And maybe even be the best Slytherin ever"

The Professor's strangely proud expression quickly changed to one of shock as she seemingly chocked on air after Harry's last statement.

" Are you sure?" McGonagall asked, coughing slightly. " I mean are you sure that you're a Slytherin?"

" Of course not, I won't know what house I'm in until I'm at Hogwarts you said, but if I am a Slytherin I'm going to prove to everyone that I'm still damn awesome." Harry smirked. At the Professor's stunned silence Harry took the opportunity to continue looking at the snake products. Grabbing the mice flavoured pellets and a flashing mouse, just because it looked fun, Harry looked at the Professor again.

" Come on, it can't be that bad," Harry laughed, " Me and my snakes going to be awesome whatever house I'm in."

" I'm sure you will be," McGonagall finally smiled back, looking a lot more relaxed. " But if you do end up getting a snake, try and make sure it's not poisonous."

" Aww, but then what can I use against the annoying students? I'm kidding." She added at the Professors glare. _Mostly kidding._

It took a good ten minutes of standing in the queue, then another five to convince the shop keeper that, no Harry didn't need to buy a snake today, before they could finally leave the shop. When they got outside they saw Hagrid already waiting, grinning madly. He was holding a badly hidden cage under a cloth.

" There you are. I got something for you Harry, a late birthday present." Hagrid proudly pulled back the cloth to present a beautiful white owl. " Owls are terribly useful in the wizarding world, never out of fashion either"

" Oh wow, thank you Hagrid but that's too much." Harry was almost speechless at the tough of such a present from someone she barely knew.

" Nonsense, I'm just sorry I hadn't been able to get you anything for your previous birthdays. Go on, she's all yours." Harry couldn't say no again to Hagrid's proud expression and took the cage from him with a sincere 'thank you'.

" Well I believe that's enough excitement for one day, don't you Miss Potter?" Professor McGonagall asked.

" Yep, that's all now Professor. It was great meeting you Hagrid, see you at Hogwarts." She waved to the giant man before he could hug her, that looked like an experience she wouldn't recover from easily.

" You take care of yourself Harriett. I'll see you soon Professor" He smiled in return before heading of down the alley.

" Grab my hand, Miss Potter and we'll be back in an instant." Harry hesitantly took the older woman's hand.

" Do we really have-" There was a sharp pull and a wave of nausea that cut Harry off mid-sentence.

" Hey Harry, you're back! You've been ages, I mean really ages, who needs to spend so much time shopping." Dudley bombarded Harry before she could even return to her senses.

" Enough of that, everything okay Harry?" Harry nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

" Alright, you have an hour before tea, you can go show Dudley your knew things up in you room okay?" Aunt Petunia looked at her strangely when she just nodded again.

" Well I'll leave you to it then, if you have any queries feel free to owl me. I'll see you September the first then Miss Potter." With another loud pop, the Professor disappeared.

" Hey cool! Hey, Harry isn't that- ow" Harry stamped on his foot, seeing where he was going with that question. "Cool, isn't that cool Harry." He glared at her. " You just wish you could be that cool."

Caught up in the need to argue with Dudley, Harry forgot that she was not speaking for a reason.

" Eww, MUM! Harry threw up on your new rug. It's disgusting!" There went her holiday.

- HP -

So long chapter but I just didn't want to stop while still in Diagon Alley, hope it was worth the wait. Don't worry, I'm not going to beg for reviews. I will do a cool smiley though ^_^ how can you resist? All criticism welcome.


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